For a military event, yesterday’s change of command parade for the chief of staff of the Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) at Up Park Camp was not shrouded in the rigidity usually associated with the army. In other words, it was light.

Even though outgoing chief of staff, Rear Admiral Harldey Lewin, called the incoming Major General Stewart Saunders his “good friend”, the hug the two shared at the end of their addresses was still surprising. And the audience participated in the moment, with that utterance for sentimentalism, “aaw”.

Sure there was the usual intrigue brought on by the unison of military parades. But the language of protocol came in for a few chuckles.

When master of ceremonies Merrick Needham instructed spectators of the far north stand to sit during the first march, everybody looked around, but nobody sat. He repeated, sternly. Hence, the mumbles and the chuckles and eventually persons in the far left stand, sat.

But the highlight of the afternoon was the fly-by of the JDF Air Wing, which did not go quite as planned.

Needham announced that three helicopters would come first, then “coming up in the rear” of those would be two others.

The three came and spectators craned their necks, and snapped as many pictures as they could. Then they turned expectantly for the other two.

Needham joked that indeed they were in the rear. They were, in fact, nowhere to be seen. Then it appeared as if they were coming, but ventured in a different direction.

The audience had all but given up on the aircraft, when some cunning Jamaican spotted two birds flying by and quipped that those must be the aircraft.

Needham made this correction to much laughter: “No, those are not [the aircraft], I said fixed wing.”

But there was some seriousness in the proceedings, as the new chief of staff announced his readiness to deliver what he knew the Jamaican Government and people wanted from the JDF.

“I am very much aware of what the Government and the nation require of the JDF and the capabilities that have to be satisfied to meet these requirements,” Saunders said.

He said the JDF would continue its transformation in accordance with the Strategic Defence Review (SDR). The SDR is aimed essentially at ensuring organisational development for ideal functioning.

Saunders said the JDF would continue to focus on staff development, as “we must put the right man or woman in the right job”.

His tenure of chief of staff, he said, would continue to be guided by the core principles of the JDF – integrity, honour, courage, discipline, commitment and loyalty.

Read Admiral Lewin, he said, had “constantly sought to improve the capabilities of the force”.

Lewin, for his part, said Saunders’ takeover signalled a continuation of command.

“I have run my leg of this great relay,” Lewin said, “It is now time to say farewell.”

Saunders is the ninth JDF chief of staff since 1962. He joined the JDF in 1973 and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant in 1975, Captain in 1978, Major in 1983, Lieutenant Colonel in 1993 and Colonel in 2001, before rising to the rank of Major General on Friday when he was presented with the instrument of appointment by Governor-Generel Sir Kenneth Hall at a swearing-in ceremony at King’s House.